In an uncertain world, international M&A remains a major theme for outward-looking businesses from the three Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Corporates from the three countries, which have a combined population of just 6.1m people, tend show more enthusiasm for cross-border deals than their peers elsewhere in the wider Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region.

Estonia-headquartered online ticketing specialist PLG is an example of the trend. In March, it bought Czech company Ticketstream for an undisclosed consideration along with a local partner.

Last month, PLG’s CEO Sven Nuutmann said that the company is looking at four targets in CEE, including one in Poland, worth a combined EUR 100m. PLG has also been raising financing from European junior lenders for M&A financing.

Although companies like PLG are continuing to think about internationalisation, the pace has fallen somewhat in recent months amid market turbulence around the world. In the year to date (YTD), Baltic companies completed six deals outside the region, which compares to nine outbound deals in YTD24, according to Mergermarket data.

In terms of full-year (FY) data, FY22 marked the high watermark over the last five years, with 30 deals worth EUR 511m. This includes the region’s largest outbound transaction to date: Kronans Droghande Apotek’s EUR 406m joint venture between Lithuania’s Euroapotheca and Finland’s Oriola.

In FY24, Baltic businesses completed 18 outbound deals worth around EUR 122m, which is similar by deal count to FY20 and FY21.

Perceived geopolitical risks in the region soared during 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Estonia and Latvia have land borders with Russia, while Lithuania borders the Kaliningrad Oblast, which is an exclave of Russia on the Baltic Sea between Lithuania and Poland.

Region punches above weight in CEE

In the combined Baltics and CEE region, outbound M&A from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania comprised 15% of total outbound deal count in FY24 and 18% in FY23. The three Baltic states punch above their weight for outbound deals – the region is home to just 6.5% of the total population of the CEE.

As well as the three Baltic countries, the wider region includes Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania , Slovakia and Slovenia.

The small size of the region means that the best solution for any growth-oriented company with a working business model is to seek M&A elsewhere, Vytautas Plunksnis, board member and  head of private equity at INVL Asset Management, said. Neighboring Poland is among the most logical target markets due its size, he said. The Nordics is another market of interest for Baltic companies.

However, outbound M&A activity by the Baltic companies still remains somewhat limited because going to larger markets requires significant capital, Plunksnis said. Also, the region lack banks, who would be ready to support such expansion of local businesses, he added.

Top 10 Baltics outbound M&A deals since 2020

Source: Mergermarket, data correct as at 09-May-25

Strong appetite

Baltic businesses actually demonstrate even more interest in outbound M&A than the data on closed deals suggests, Sass Karemäe, head of M&A at PwC Estonia, said. This activity may further increase in the future, especially, if there is further economic recovery in the region, he added.

Companies within the fields of energy, information technology (IT), and technology are among the most active outbound dealmakers, Karemäe said. While IT and tech M&A provides easy scale-up opportunities, outbound dealmaking within the energy sector is also driven by businesses that are looking to disperse their assets and mitigate risks due to geopolitical factors, Karemäe added.

Some Baltic companies interested in outbound M&A in the CEE include Civinity, a Lithuanian buildings engineering, maintenance, and property-technology solutions provider; Digmatix, a Latvian IT solutions specialist; ELKO Group, a Latvian distributor of IT and consumer electronics; and Green Genius, a Lithuanian renewable energy company, according to Mergermarket reports this year.

Meanwhile, Oxylabs, a Lithuania-headquartered web data collection platform, is actively looking for acquisitions within proxy infrastructure, web scraping, datasets, and various data-based products globally, including in the US and Europe.

Also, Storent Holding, a Latvian equipment rental company, could finalise an acquisition in the US by July and is monitoring potential Nordic targets.

Finally, Estonia-headquartered digital marketing specialist FCR Media is focused on assessing opportunities to acquire in the Benelux region.

The strong appetite for cross-border M&A from the Baltics means that dealmakers around the world should expect to see executives from Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania kicking the tyres of fast-growing tech assets in the years ahead, even if the targets are based a long way from the Baltic Sea.